"A peculiar anthologic maze, an amusing literary chaos, a farrago of quotations, a mere olla podrida of quaintness, a pot pourri of pleasant delites, a florilegium of elegant extracts, a tangled fardel of old-world flowers of thought, a faggot of odd fancies, quips, facetiae, loosely tied" (Holbrook Jackson, Anatomy of Bibliomania) by a "laudator temporis acti," a "praiser of time past" (Horace, Ars Poetica 173).

Saturday, June 20, 2009

What's Hecuba to Him?

Dear Mr Gilleland,

I do not know whether you are still interested in asyndetic privative adjectives, but I came across a few further examples:

Soph. Oed. Col. vs 1222

Eur Troades vs. 1186

Eur Helena, vs 1148

In her edition of Eur Hecuba, Justina Gregory says (p. 46): "strings of alpha-privative adjectives in asyndeton are a feature of both epic and tragedy", referring to verses 30, 416, 669, 691, 714. This makes the Hecuba a real Fundgrube.

But perhaps you are already familiar with many of these. Just a token of admiration for your blog!

Best wishesHans van der Hoeven(A Sciolist)

Thanks very much for the examples and the kind words  I am indeed still interested in this topic. Four of these examples had escaped my attention, all from Euripides' Hecuba:

30 unwept, unburied (ἄκλαυτος ἄταφος)

416 without bridegroom, without wedding (ἄνυμφος ἀνυμέναιος)

691 without sigh, without tear (ἀστένακτος ἀδάκρυτος)

714 unutterable, nameless (ἄρρητ' ἀνωνόμαστα)

In my own recent reading, I found a couple of English examples.

Arthur Hugh Clough, ἐπὶ Λάτμῳ:

As a lake its mirrored mountainsAt a moment, unregretting, Unresisting, unreclaiming,Without preface, without question,On the silent shifting levelsLets depart,Shows, effaces and replaces!

J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, III/6:

Unmarred, unstained is leaf and landIn Dwimordene, in LórienMore fair than thoughts of Mortal Men.